15 Aug – Central Louisiana Politics and the Rapides Parish Legal Recorder report that a $3,900,00.00 judgement was awarded to Dr. Tommie Granger against Christus Health Central. After a jury trial, the jury awarded Dr. Granger that sum for unfair or deceptive trade practises and for a negligent misrepresentation of facts to Christus’ peer review action. See the jury’s special verdict form HERE.

Semmelweis Society International is proud to welcome its newest members. Because of their membership and support, SSI continues to assist physicians throughout the US.

Most notably, SSI has prepared this Amicus Brief on behalf of Dr. Rakesh Wahi, whose case may be one of the most important case regarding the issue of “sham peer review” to reach the US Supreme Court. In the next few weeks, SSI will provide more information about the case.

One year ago, former Semmelweis (SSI) members James Murtagh MD and Kevin Kuritzky alleged that SSI’s 2008 “Clean Hands” Award recipients Peter Duesberg and Celia Farber were unfit to receive their awards. The charges were serious because, if true, SSI would rescind the awards.

When the SSI Board asked retired LAPD investigator Clark Baker to investigate the allegations, Murtagh and a small group of associates attacked the SSI Board and Baker in an effort to rescind the awards without an investigation – an act similar to the practice of “sham peer review” and in clear opposition of SSI’s goals and mission.

To their credit the Board refused to abandon the investigation and, when Murtagh and his tiny circle persisted, SSI eventually revoked their membership. When Baker completed his investigation, the SSI Board uninamously appointed him to join the Board.

In an effort to further bully the SSI Board, former member Ralph Bard filed suit on behalf of three other ex-members, issuing a flurry of meritless complaints and demands. But when the Board responded and demanded financial records that potentially exposed the ex-members to criminal, civil, and administrative scrutiny, they scattered like Murtagh when told that Celia Farber had filed her own lawsuit. Bard, Murtagh, Moore, and Butler had no problem lying and bullying others – as long as they didn’t have to appear in a real court before real men. That such individuals once controlled SSI indicates how dysfunctional the organization was before 2008.

In many ways, our membership cannot thank Professor Duesberg and Celia Farber enough for helping SSI identify and flush the rats from our organization. As a result, SSI has never been stronger or more effective in the defense of maliciously targeted health care professionals.

Over the past months, some of our members and associates have asked SSI to post things they’ve written. While we found the content of their essays important, their value was eroded by marginal writing.

Professional journalists and investigators know that the most important investigation is meaningless if recorded in sloppy or illegible reports.

Unfortunately, some of our most passionate medical reform advocates have spent so much time writing like doctors that their content is almost entirely lost in a sea of awkward paragraphs, redundancy, and unnecessarily verbose, disjointed, bombastic, de trop, diffuse, extra, extravagant, inessential, inordinate, iterating, long-winded, loquacious, oratorical, padded, palaverous, periphrastic, pleonastic, prolix, reiterating, spare, supererogatory, superfluous, supernumerary, surplus, tautological, unnecessary, unwanted, wordy… SEE WHAT I MEAN!!!

Each of you brings a wealth of information and experience that others can learn from. Your perspective and passion is valued by our membership. After years in an academic or medical environment, you may experience residual fears that you might offend someone who can negatively affect your career. At Semmelweis, you’re free to write what you want, as long as it is relevant, coherent, and respectful. If you are concerned about retaliation, we can post your essays anonymously.

SSI offers three forums:

Our website offers a formal place where well-written essays, reports, and news events can be posted. Reasonably well-written and thoughtful reports will be posted, as will relevant news events that you want to see posted. If you find a news event, write a short paragraph explaining what you think is important and include the link.

Our blog is less formal, and writers can submit items with less formality. Remember that whatever you post reflects on you, SSI, and your profession. If your reports and essays look like they were written with crayons, it will reflect badly on us all.

Our forum is the least formal and allows you to post directly to the group. If you don’t have time to write a masterpiece, you can share your ideas with other members without too much sweat.

These are YOUR forums. They are fairly new and it may take a while before you get the hang of it. Comments are also encouraged – clink on the comments link. Feel free to share your observations, experiences, and alternative views with everyone.

Editors of The Journal of the American Medical Association, better known as JAMA, can be a little thin-skinned when it comes to outsiders taking issue with studies published in the prestigious medical journal.

Jonathan Leo, a professor of neuro-anatomy at tiny Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tenn., posted a letter on the Web site of the British Medical Journal this month criticizing a study that appeared in JAMA last spring. The study concerned the use of the anti-depressant Lexapro in stroke patients. In addition to identifying what he said was an important omission in the paper — that behavioral therapy worked just as well as the drug when compared head to head in the study — Leo also pointed out that the lead author had a financial relationship with Forest Laboratories, the maker of Lexapro, that was not disclosed in the study.

Leo says he received an angry call from JAMA executive deputy editor Phil Fontanarosa last week, shortly after Leo’s article was published on the BMJ Web site. “He said, ‘Who do you think you are,’ ” says Leo. “He then said, ‘You are banned from JAMA for life. You will be sorry. Your school will be sorry. Your students will be sorry.” Fontanarosa referred a call for comment to a JAMA spokeswoman, who said Leo’s retelling of the conversation was “inaccurate.” (more)

(Washington) – As part of the National Whistleblower Assembly conference currently underway, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) will host a panel discussion on Capitol Hill examining the past, current, and future state of the controversy surrounding the warrantless wiretapping scandal.